Standing out in a Sea of Sameness

Congratulations! You are a graduating member of the high school class of 2010. You are now starting your freshman year of college. You think about your friends, brothers and sisters who graduated college and are out there trying to make a go of it in today's job market - for about one millisecond. You can't worry about that now, you got more important things to do.

If you were to ask your sister if she could go back and start college all over, would she do anything different? Okay, I know, you wouldn't ask her. You got more important things to do... But just humor me, let's pretend, okay? Hey, it's not like I'm asking you to go and ask your mom or anything :-)

Hey! You know what? I got an idea! Let's ask some of Penelope's friends. Penelope is one cool girl who has amazing insight into today's workplace. I met her a couple of years ago but I've been following her for a decade or so, since she was a columnist for Business 2.0, a magazine that is no longer. Today, Penelope is Chief Evangelist and Co-Founder of Brazen Careerist.

Anyhow, one of the things that I've discovered at Brazen Careerist is that it is packed with twenty and thirty-something year-olds who care about their family, friends, associates, themselves and the world they live in today. They want more out of their life and career, and they're trying like all get out to get it. By the way, I'm going to also ask some friends of friends, so it's likley we might get folks who do not belong to Brazen Careerist (NOTE to you guys! Check out Brazen Careerist!!). Let's ask my friends:

Knowing what you do about today's job market; if you could go back and start college all over again, what would you do different?

First bit of advice, get involved. Like some of the people on Brazen stated, I never thought I was a "sorority" girl, but being in a sorority taught me a lot more than I thought it would. It is impossible to get a group of 100 or more women to agree on everything, so this experience helped with patience, negotiating, leadership, and many more things. I would recommend at least going through the recruitment process, even if you decide not to join. Get involved in SGA or any other leadership programs you can find. They will prepare you for life outside of college.

Second, do something that makes you happy, but that is also challenging. If you get bored sitting in all of your classes, you will probably be bored later in the workplace. Don't pick the easy route.

Third, DIVERSIFY! If you are a science major, then minor in English. Or if you are a business major, minor in a foreign language. Not only will you have the added skills, but you will end up meeting people outside of your specific degree area as well.

Forth, use your universities resources as much as possible, specifically internship/co-op programs. This is the only thing I would have done differently if I went back to school. I didn't take advantage of these programs because I was a liberal arts major and thought it wasn't worth it, while my engineering friends did. They came out of school with three years of real work experience, most had permanent jobs and were demanding higher salaries than others. In today's job market, anytime you can increase your chances of a job after school is worth the time.

And finally, the last one, have FUN. College is supposed to be a time to make mistakes and learn from them. And I'm talking about mistakes that don't involve police or university administration.